Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) raided the property of four former ruling MPs, including the former justice minister, on Tuesday amid a nationwide investigation into corruption allegations, a spokesman for the National Prosecutor’s Office reported.
The four were detained in searches conducted on behalf of prosecutors by an investigative team from the Justice Fund. Three Justice Ministry officials who were in charge of the Justice Fund and one beneficiary of the Fund would face prosecutors.
The property of former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who led government judicial reforms that forced the European Union to suspend bloc funds for Poland, was also inspected.
Others were opposition MPs Michał Woś, Marcin Romanowski and Dariusz Matecki. Ziobro claimed that no one obstructed prosecutors during the search of his home, adding that there were no attempts to contact him over plans to raid his home.
Jacek Dobrzyński, a spokesman for the minister of the coordinator of the intelligence services, reported that the ABW’s actions were related to “exceeding powers and failure to fulfil duties by public officials.” Prosecutor Przemyslaw Nowak stated that ABW officers raided several dozen locations across the country.
Donald Tusk‘s government spent its first 100 days in power inspecting public institutions, particularly in the media and energy sector, and reviewing the previous government’s judicial reforms.
Let law always mean law, and justice – justice.
At the end of January, Attorney General Adam Bodnar set up an investigation team at the National Prosecutor’s Office to verify the proper management and spending of the Justice Fund. The team would also acquire the Pegasus system from the Fund.
The accusations concern a support for crime victims centre being built in the suburbs of Warsaw by a priest who runs the Profeto Foundation. The centre received almost 100 million zlotys (23 million euros) from the public foundation the Justice Fund.
Members of the PiS-led coalition the United Right, including PiS MP Patryk Jaki, criticised the raids.
“This morning, at the request of ‘neo-prosecutors’ Tusk and [Justice Minister Adam] Bodnar, the services broke into Z. Ziobro’s house. They broke windows and destroyed the house. All in his absence and undergoing treatment for cancer.”
Tusk’s ruling coalition also tabled a motion in parliament on Tuesday to summon Poland’s Central Bank chief, Adam Glapiński, to the State Tribunal on charges of malfeasance.
